


Only Second Place in this Game

by serafina19



Category: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 22:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6169903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serafina19/pseuds/serafina19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After what he sees at the courthouse, Greg still decides to confront Rebecca. Spoilers for “Josh and I Go to Los Angeles!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only Second Place in this Game

Well, he went to see her. He _saw_ her. And what a sight it was. Pretty much everything she had been denying, but he knew deep down, unfolding right in front of his eyes.

Greg wanted to ignore it, but there wasn’t many places he could go. Heather was still working at Home Base, all his friends were Josh’s friends, and home was too quiet. So he sat in his car, trying to figure out why he couldn’t let go of his feelings for Rebecca Bunch.

_That’s your face._

No matter what he felt for Rebecca, he was so transparent. And that sucked, because he knew she didn’t feel the same. He brought his head up from the steering wheel to stare at her place, still debating whether talking to her was a good idea or not. Suddenly the door opened, and the plan changed to Greg lowering himself so that Rebecca didn't see him. But he stopped when he realized it was Trent who was leaving, with Rebecca practically pushing him out the door and slamming it behind him.

_Of course._

Once her door closed, Greg got out of his car, almost in disbelief as it looked like Trent actually wanted a relationship with Rebecca. Fortunately, that was where their similarities stopped, as Greg wasn't exactly the tucked-in turtleneck type. But at least Trent would leave Rebecca with just a minor bruise.

Eventually, Trent saw him, and Greg gave him a grin. "Piece of advice," he said, not entirely sure why because he didn't know Trent. "Don't look back."

"Noted," was all Trent said before getting in the cab that had pulled up in front of Greg’s car.

_Lucky guy,_ Greg thought as he walked up to Rebecca's door. He knocked on her door, which was promptly followed by a recognizable huff on the other side.

"Trent, get the hint," Rebecca called out.

Greg scoffed. "Well, that at least answers that question."

Even from outside, he could have sworn that he heard her skid to a stop. The silence didn't last long though, as the footsteps approached the door.

After opening the door again, Rebecca's eyebrows raised, as Greg was about the last person she expected to see right now. Leaning against the doorframe, her head tilted slightly. "Why are you here? I thought you wanted nothing to do with me anymore,” she said, as his conviction in telling Josh to ignore her was still fresh.

And it was a valid accusation. Greg really thought he believed it before, but today had been… illuminating.  
  
"About two hours ago, I had this whole speech." Because since leaving Home Base, he had become _that_ guy. The guy from some Hallmark movie, ready to be honest about his feelings for Rebecca, damning the consequences.

Neither he nor Rebecca were great at being honest when it came to their true feelings, but Greg had hoped that if he put his cards on the table, things would change. How wrong he was. He added, "I was ready to apologize, but now I'm relieved that I don't have to give it."

She crossed her arms. Clearly he had seen Trent leave, so the ruse was up. "I take it you're going to gloat now. Maybe even tell Valencia?"

"Neither," he said. Gloating didn’t even close to how he felt, and while there were so many things he could tell Josh or Valencia to stay away from her, Greg respected Rebecca enough to keep silent on some of the worst things. But he wasn't going to let what he had seen completely slide. "Mainly because that pales in comparison to what you did today."

That didn't make sense to her, she hadn't seen Greg all day. Josh wouldn't have told Greg about what happened... did he? "What are you talking about?"

She played innocent so well. It was probably why Josh was so easily persuaded by her. Granted, it wasn't like she hadn't swayed Greg in the past. "Do you ever think about someone other than yourself? Have you even considered who you might hurt along the way?"

His tone shook Rebecca, and she took a step back. It wasn't often that she saw this side of Greg, but it wasn't like it was at Josh’s place. Instead of his angry side coming out, there was pure frustration mixed with disappointment.  
  
Like with the fall-out of their date at the taco festival.  
  
That wasn't a good sign, so she regained her composure and moved away from the doorway, a little afraid for what he was about to say. "Okay, how about you come inside and start filling in some blanks because -"

"Your little cheerleader looked me right in the eyes,” Greg interjected, knowing that going inside would be a mistake. “She told me I was a nice guy, but apparently you and Josh are meant to be."

"That's her opinion," Rebecca replied, surprised how even her voice was. Wherever this was heading, it wasn't good.

"Seriously? That's what you're going with?" It wasn't like he was being overly subtle. She had to know what he was talking about. "Josh and Valencia are my friends, and this place is smaller than you think. I'm done telling Josh what to do, but I can't stand by while you ignore the potential wreck that all of your schemes are causing."

It was Rebecca’s turn to scoff. "I understand that you’re protective of Josh, but Valencia? Last I checked, you seemed to tolerate her more than be her friend." Whenever they talked about her, it seemed like he was more afraid of her than anything else. Then again, maybe that changed when they teamed up to sway Josh to stop seeing Rebecca.

Again, a decision Greg regretted, but for more reasons than he wanted to admit before. The spite in her voice was understandable, but he refused to let her continue trying to shift the conversation.  
  
"Our friendship isn't perfect,” he said, “but that doesn't mean that she deserves to have her boyfriend cheat on her." Finally, a crack in her armour and Greg took advantage of it. "I take it Paula didn't tell you that I had a front row seat to you being a homewrecker."

Well, that explained a lot. Rebecca had felt confused when she didn’t find Paula outside of the courtroom, but her attention had been quickly diverted. "We didn't...talk after the trial was over. Then I drove Josh home." All while Paula was probably trying to convince Greg to stay quiet.

The drive back to West Covina was weirdly quiet though, as she just barely convinced Josh to let her drive him home after his car got a flat. Still, she couldn't help but feel victorious for a change when she dropped him off. That was amplified when Trent understood that he had to leave.

In all this time, she had never figured out that Greg had come to the courthouse. But the look on his face said it all, and she almost hated herself for causing it.  
  
"Of course," he said, trying not to roll his eyes. "Of course you would."

At that point, Rebecca had enough. "Look, if I'm such an awful person, as you told me last time you were here, your girlfriend is right there." She pointed towards Heather's place, but kept her focus on him. "You're already out the door, so it'll be easy."

"Ex." When her arm dropped, Rebecca started blinking, and he couldn't help but shake his head. "Don't look so surprised, you were surprised it was a _thing._ And you also know why it ended."  
  
The worst part was that Heather was right. At first, he thought he loved the idea of Rebecca. She had made it in New York, she wasn’t afraid of exploring the world around her, she was interested in a lot of the same things he was, including doing something besides going to the beach.  
  
Seeing the way her face changed to a familiar look of pity, Greg sighed. "No matter what crazy stunt you pull, I can't stop. Trust me, I've tried." Because they did get along. Furthermore, he really thought they had already seen each other's worsts, and if they were able to maintain a semblance of friendship after that, then maybe the idea of something more wasn't crazy.

But Greg was kidding himself. What he had seen today and these moments now, these were the worst parts of themselves. It was why they couldn't stay together for longer than a few hours.

Part of her wanted to reach out and take his hand, provide some form of comfort, but that sent the wrong message and would probably insult him. Instead, her head dipped.  
  
"Greg," she said, "I tried to warn you. You can't blame me for this."  
  
He nodded. "I know. I'm not mad at you about that. I know this is my problem and I don't know what I'm going to do about it. But it's one thing to try and steal someone else's boyfriend. It's another to bring that person down with you."

With any luck, she would eventually drop the rosy hue that she associated with her relationship with Josh and see what she had done. But even if she did, Greg wasn’t sure if that was enough to erase the damage she had already caused. "And you can't even see that you're doing the same thing I did."

"What?"

Greg wanted to tell her every detail about their similarities. How she had freaked out in New York, searching for a time when she were happy. And then Josh showed up, right on time, as he does. Even though Rebecca had genuinely grown to love West Covina, and Josh was super likeable, he believed that she was so blinded by a concept that she didn't realize how many lives were affected by what she was doing.

Again, he wanted to tell her that. He didn't.  
  
Instead, Greg shook his head. "You know, you're right. I don't know why I'm telling you all this." He did feel a bit better, letting her know how much she hurt him, but in the long run, he realized that it wouldn’t change anything. She would still pursue Josh, and he would go home alone, his heart noticeably worse for wear. "The time when you respected my opinion has passed, right?"

Arms crossing once more, Rebecca shrugged. "You aligning with Valencia kind of clinched that."

He exhaled loudly before saying, "I didn’t see much choice after Josh refused to see your attempts to manipulate him." Greg started walking towards her gate, but stopped halfway. The door was still open, so he turned and met her eyes. "Do me a favour... don't come to Home Base for awhile."

"Not a problem."  They clearly needed space right now, and the last thing she needed was for Greg to break and tell Valencia or Josh the whole truth. If he wasn't already past that point.  "Are you going to tell Valencia?"

"No," he said, and not because of what he told Paula. It was because he didn't have to. "Either it won't matter and status quo will return or she'll find out about it another way." Things like this never seemed to stay quiet for long, and even though Greg was willing to live out the consequences of this white lie, Rebecca had to know the truth. "Trust me, you may be happy now, but neither outcome works in your favour."  
  
He attempted to turn his head around, but she called out, "Greg, wait." And as much as he wanted to keep walking, he couldn't.

Her mouth opened and closed a few times, her hands fighting what do. But then suddenly his eyes softened, and she realized exactly what she had to say. "I know it's not worth much to you, but I am really sorry about... you know."

"I know," he replied, as somehow, her apology _did_ mean something. His mouth twitched momentarily to the smallest of grins, but it fell when she tried to return the expression because there was no denying that they had a long way to go to get back to where their friendship once was. "Tread carefully, Bunch."

 

**~End~**


End file.
